Green Compliance Plus

Welcome to Green Compliance Plus, a part of Mark English Architects. Our mission is twofold:

Provide Title 24 energy compliance documentation tailored to the needs of architects and other design professionals.

Foster education and discussion on energy compliance and green residential design concepts within the design and engineering communities.

Typically, Title 24 compliance emphasizes engineering over design. This approach is well suited to many types of building projects. However, custom-designed private residences, where both client and designer are seeking design uniqueness as well as energy performance, may require a more sensitive and iterative approach.

We are architects, and we know what architects want.

Our Qualifications

Our staff has over 30 years of collective experience in architectural design and energy compliance. We seek to maintain our own professional stature in the energy-efficiency and architectural design communities through active membership, participation, peer networking, and continuing education through the California Association of Building Energy Consultants (CABEC), the California Energy Center (CEC), and the American Association of Architects (AIA).

Mark English, AIA, Founder and Principal of Mark English Architects, has been working in San Francisco and the Greater Bay Area since 1992. His designs reflect resourcefulness and efficiency in the creation of high-quality, award-winning residential designs. Mark is a Certified Energy Plans Examiner (CEPE) for residential projects.

Rebecca Firestone has been working in the Bay Area since 1998 as a technical writer, business content developer, blogger, and most recently as a Title 24 energy compliance consultant.

Acknlowledgments and Thanks

Our ceaseless efforts to promote the use of social media among other architects – our colleagues – has led to questions about how much we did for ourselves, and where we needed professional technical assistance. Both Green Compliance Plus and our sister blog, The Architects Take, are hosted on WordPress software using commercially available WordPress templates that contain the bells and whistles that help our pages get found and read by more people.

And no, we didn’t do it all by ourselves. Our back-end guru is Jeff Lambert of JVHM, Inc., offering software services such as web site development, CRM tool implementation, database development, and graphics/photographic work. He’s also a seasoned entrepeneur who, more importantly, has saved us from the WordPress White Screen of Death. We’d also like to acknowledge Steve Chipman of Lexnet Consulting Group, Inc. and Paul Sanneman of Conscious Insights.

Editorial Focus of Green Compliance Plus

The Green Compliance Plus online blog originally began as an emailed newsletter to our self-compiled list of Title 24 clients and prospects. Although issues such as climate change and indoor air quality are obviously relevant to our work, our focus is on energy efficiency and building performance specifically from a compliance standpoint.

There are already plenty of evangelists out there showing us the future. We help other architects and their clients who want to do the right thing, but still need to qualify for permits and incentives that don’t always recognize the benefits of alternative energies and self-generated power. We are interested in proven technologies and methods that architects can realistically use in their projects today.

We want to be thoughtfully green, incorporating both design and engineering concerns. Sometimes we even take different positions amongst ourselves as to whether it’s better to get an efficient but conventional furnace or to go solar. Each solution has its pros and cons, special features that may make it suitable for one project or site but not for another. It’s hard for people to accept that there is no one magic solution that works everywhere, in every building, for every person and every lifestyle.

Professional Code of Ethics

To demonstrate consistent care and competence in our work, upholding the integrity of our respective design and engineering professions and associations.

Our energy calculations and reports shall be consistent with the plans used in their preparation, shall be accurate in inputs and outputs, and shall conform to the energy codes for which they are prepared.

To demonstrate unbiased judgment in the performance of our profession, disclosing to our clients any circumstances that could be construed as a conflict of interest.

To compete fairly with other professionals, giving credit where credit is due, and honoring pre-existing business relationships.

To refrain from accepting or offering improper contributions or gifts that might influence our own judgment or the judgment of others.

To conform to both the spirit and the letter of the laws that govern our professional conduct and services.

To refrain from discrimination against others in their professional endeavors.